Palestine Action protest to go ahead, despite UK police ban after Manchester attack

Organisers behind the mass protests against the ban on Palestine Action confirmed on Friday that they will be going ahead with their Saturday protests after facing calls for the rally to be cancelled following the attack on a synagogue in Manchester.

Defend Our Juries (DOJ), the group that has been organising protests in London, has said that 1,500 people will peacefully demonstrate in Trafalgar Square, holding cardboard signs reading "I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action", after facing calls by the UK government and the Metropolitan Police to cancel their protest.

DOJ, while also condemning the attack, said many of their Jewish supporters had warned that postponing Saturday’s protest "would risk conflating the actions of the state of Israel with Jewish people around the world, as Netanyahu seeks to do".

"Cancelling peaceful protests lets terror win," DOJ said in a statement.

"It’s more important than ever to defend our democracy, including our fundamental rights to peaceful protest and freedom of speech, and to take A stand tomorrow against killing and against oppression, and for peace and justice for all."

The group revealed it had responded to the Metropolitan Police's letter on Thursday, where the Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan raised concerns over "significant pressure on policing" where resources needed to protect fearful communities in the wake of the attack would be diverted.

The group said it hoped the Met would respect "our fundamental right to peaceful protest and freedom of expression".

Following Palestine Action’s designation as a terrorist organisation in July, the UK has witnessed a series of peaceful protests calling for the ban to be lifted. Over 1,500 protesters, many of them elderly, have been arrested under the terrorism act.

Two people were killed and a further four were injured on Thursday after a car ramming and stabbing incident occurred outside Heaton Park Synagogue, during Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. The incident has now been declared a terrorist attack.

Police have named the attacker as Jihad al-Shamie, a 35-year-old British citizen of Syrian descent, who was shot dead at the scene by armed officers.

In the hours after the attack on Thursday, several pro-Palestinian protests took place in British cities. Other pro-Palestine marches have drawn thousands of people.

Most demonstrators carry Palestinian flags and hold signs reading: "I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action".